ier, which surrounds it. 4, Baal’s River, one of the 
largest firths, is divided into several branches by large 
jslands. (5. Nerusutok, remarkable for its violent cur- 
i 6. Sermilik, or Icefiord, a firth, which presents 
the largest ice mountains on the whole coast. It is 
‘supposed to have been formerly a sound, which divided 
the continent, but is now shat up by ice.- 7. Omenaks 
Bay, called St James Bay and Cornelius Bay on the 
English and Dutch charts, which is the most extensive 
firth on the whole coast, and contains more than twent 
islands. It is situated in the 71° of latitude, and in all 
its different branches is connected with the large gla- 
cier. 8. Kangerdluarsursoak, in Baffin’s Bay, called 
Horn’s Sound on the charts, in the 74° of latitude, is 
likewise a most dreadful firth, on account of its mon- 
_ strous masses of ice. In the months of May and June, 
_ the Greenlanders visit the firths, to provide themselves 
‘with a kind of small fish, the salmo arclicus, Fabricii, 
. (clupea villosa, Mulleri,) which visits the firths in mil- 
lions at that season. They are dried in the sun on the 
rocks, and used instead of bread. They are the prin- 
cipal food of the seal in summer, and followed by them 
‘in t numbers. Seals are also caught here. 
rivers are neither numerous nor large. They 
an have but a small supply in that desolate region, 
“where the valleys are covered with eternal ice, which 
does not melt frequently, and then only on the surface. 
In the vallies between precipitous mountains, there are 
occasionally very “_ lakes, which have their origin 
from the melting of the ice and snow on the mountains, 
and are confined by the rocky bottom of the valley. 
‘The springs and rivulets which come from the moun- 
tains, scr. as they are in the spring, generally dry 
up in summer. The inundation of these rivers in 
the spring, makes the soil marshy, and produces good 
.f ion on the shores of the firths. The old Nor- 
_ -wegians and Icelanders formerly made all their settle- 
ments in’such situations. 
What are called springs by the Greenlanders, fre- 
quently consist only of ice-water, forced out of its ae- 
eustomed channels by the power of the waterfalls run- 
ning through the ruins of detsoyel rocks. There are, 
however, some spring wells, one of which is very re- 
markable from its rising and falling with the tide, al- 
though it is situated more than 36 feet above the level 
ofthe sea. Its water is not brackish, perhaps from the 
circumstance of its oe in passing through a 
bed of very fine sand. most interesting isa warm 
ing on the island Ounartok, which has a temperature 
of 32° of Reaumur (104° Fahrenheit) at all seasons. It 
is situated in the south-east of the coast, in the 60°. 
- The streams or currents of the sea have an easterly 
direction, and are in some places very rapid and dan- 
cularly during high tides. It is supposed, 
ihe doivent are eae ly by the uneven- 
ness of the bottom of the sea, and partly by the nume- 
rous islands, which increase the rapidity of the currents 
by diminishing their channels, e obstacles, which 
rise from the bottom of the sea, may assist in producing 
back currents and whirlpools. One of the most dan- 
whirlpools exists at the mouth ofa firth, (called 
by the natives Puiosortok,) in the south-east of Green- 
atet. I'he water of the sea near the shores, is less salt than 
_ that at some distance from them, the former being al- 
Ways in contact and communication with the ice-water. 
The rising of the tides is very unequal, in. consequence: 
of the number of islands through which the tide passes, 
~ VOL, X. PART I. 
F 
H 
{ Pia 
y 
GREENLAND. 
459 
They rise in the south (from 60° to 64° of N. Lat.) to Greevland. 
eleven feet, and decrease gradually in the north of Davis “> 
Strait, (74°,) where they do not rise more than four and 
six feet. The highest flood is the third day after new 
moon, and the third day after full moon. The Icefiord, or Tides. 
Sermilik, in Disko Bay, has flood but no ebb. Green- 
land, from its most southern point to its most northern 
extremity, consists of insulated rocky mountains and 
sharp acuminated cliffs, separated by narrow valleys, 
which are rendered inaccessible by the glaciers. These 
laces never enjoy the rays of the sun, and are mostly 
intersected by rapid torrents, which precipitate them- 
selves from the mural cliffs of the mountains. Ice and 
snow accumulate here in dreadful masses, and fill the 
spaces with increasing devastation. Even the Green- 
landers, so accustomed ‘to the horrors of nature, call 
some of these spots places of desolation. The water, 
converted into ice, splits the rocks with mighty force, 
which are precipitated from the summits with thun- 
dering noise in the summer, threatening death to. the 
wanderer. The mountains themselves are covered with 
a mourning veil of black lichens, variegated here and 
there with spots of crumbling snow, which, being dis- 
solved by sun and rain, run in small torrents along the 
recipice. The view of the valleys watered by the in- 
ets and firths is more agreeable, and presents the entire 
vegetation of that deserted country. 
The small islands which surround the continent, are Islands. 
nerally of a different character, forming small round- 
ish elevations or hills, the base of which is inhabited 
by innumerable sea fowls, which breed there at the re- 
turn of 7 gion The large islands are similar to the 
continent, and consist of barren insurmountable rocks, 
the valleys of which are filled with eternal ice. Amongst 
the largest, are particularly remarkable : 1st, Cape Fare- 
well, called by the Greenlanders Kangekkyadlek, that 
is, the cape running towards the west. The entire 
island, which turns from west to east’ and south-east, 
has the name Sermesok, or Iceland, its narrow and 
dreadful valleys being always covered with ice. It has 
very little low land, and is therefore very seldom vi- 
sited in summer by the natives. No family lives there 
in winter; but the ruins of old houses on the west 
side, shew that it was formerly inhabited. The most 
eastern islands nearest to Sermesok, or Cape Farewell, 
are Omenak and Kan k: Thelatter is called Staten- 
huk by the navigators, and both are uninhabited. In the 
east of Kangersoak, or Statenhuk, are more than 100 
small islands called Kittiksorsoit. ‘The Greenlanders of 
the neighbourhood visit these islands in the beginning 
of spring, to procure seal game, which is there very 
plentiful. The large islands, which form the pyomon- 
tory of the southern coast, extend 14° from the west to 
the south, and are separated from the continent of 
Greenland by a sound of five English miles in breadth, 
called Ikareseksoak, through which runs a very rapid 
current. The sound is generally filled with immense 
flat masses of floating ice, and innumerable ice moun- 
tains, which are driven out from the inlets and firths of 
thatcontinent. Many vessels have been beset in this float- 
ing ice by currents from north-east, and have been lost 
on the coast. From this, a series of small islands bor- 
der the continent as far as the 61° 21’, where the eye 
is terrified by another island, barren, son. mee and 
of considerable extent. It presents so dreadful a view, 
that the older navigators, although accustomed to dan- 
gers and terrors, called it the Cape of Desolation. This 
cape, which reaches far to the open sea of Davis Strait, 
3@ 
